Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I’d like to make one thing very clear: my game doesn’t have netorare or anything like that. If it did, I would have included it in the tags from the very beginning so there wouldn’t be any confusion.
When I said in the past that “it will be explained in the next update,” it was because I thought by then I would have the other characters more developed, and that would make it clear the story wasn’t going in the direction some people assumed. I underestimated how much time it actually takes to create each chapter, and I also assumed players would understand that the real story could only be seen by continuing to the next chapter, not by treating what was available as if it were the complete game.
I’ve realized that many players don’t see it that way, and I understand now that it was a mistake on my part not to anticipate that. I’m learning that each chapter needs to feel more like a “season” on its own, rather than just a step toward the next one.
As for the harem aspect, I can assure fans of that genre that my game does deliver on it—though with a slightly more realistic approach.
Anyway, I really appreciate your feedback, since it helps me improve and see things from another perspective. I hope that, in time, you might give it another chance and see where I truly want to take the story.
Hey, glad you took my comments as constructive criticism. I really intended it that way. Sorry if it came across as too harsh. Criticism is, unfortunately, usually going to be pretty brutal when releasing an unfinished game. The feedback can be very disheartening for new developers, but try to remember that most of us only give such feedback if we like the game enough to want to see it succeed.
One thing that all the successful developers learn pretty quickly is that withholding information about controversial content is always worse than spoiling plot. I understand that devs really hate spoiling their plot, especially when it's been planned out very far with plot twists and whatnot. However, you're definitely going to risk losing a lot more players and support if you aren't very clear with the players about controversial content.
Lots of people have asked for a clear answer about the situation with Monica, since the early story indicates that she is sleeping with her husband while sleeping with MC. If that's not actually the case, it'd be better to partially spoil that for the players, even if it means potentially ruining a future plot twist, as most harem players consider an active LI sleeping with another guy a complete dealbreaker, regardless of who the other guy is. Many players are going to see that early dialogue, and assume that Monica is an unacceptable LI, who cannot be avoided, and they won't stick around long enough to learn what's really going on.
You could use a spoiler tag in this forum to assuage player concerns, thus only spoiling that plot point for those that wouldn't otherwise play the game at all. That way, the players that don't mind the potential situation with Monica, or those that still want to be surprised can just ignore the spoiler, and the potential players that would never stick around to see the eventual twist could read the spoiler and hopefully decide to give the game a chance.
If Monica isn't really dipping two pens in her ink well, then sharing just that information in a spoiler tag will likely prevent a LOT of potential players from walking away, without actually spoiling too much of the plot, especially since you said before that Monica is not the main LI of the story.
As another suggestion to solving the problem, you could make an alternate route where the player can completely avoid any romantic/sexual relationship with Monica right when they first reconnect. That way, players that find her husband situation unappealing could avoid the discomfort and then later, if it's revealed that she doesn't really have a husband or if she decides to leave her husband, the player could either get another option to start a relationship with her, or they could reload/restart and choose to accept the relationship with her, once they know that she isn't actually with another guy.
Any way you decide to handle it (or not handle it), I hope it works out well for you. Please keep up the hard work, and don't be discouraged by harsh or negative criticism/feedback. Remember that as long as people are giving feedback, there are people wanting you to succeed. I will happily give the game another chance, once I know for sure that MC won't be forced into a relationship with a woman that is still sleeping with another guy.
